The blog officially became two years old yesterday, so it’s time for my annual self-indulgent, navel-gazing, rambling post. It’s very long, quite personal, occasionally pretentious and I won’t hate you for skipping it.

Last Year’s Goals

In last year’s post I set a few goals for the blog that I thought were impossible. So let’s see how I did.

This is the one I’ve put most work into. A few months ago I was around position 5 and really worked at it. But at the moment I’m hovering around between 2 and 3. With the benefit of hindsight, it was stupid of me to put the chords and tabs on one page. I also lied about thinking this one was impossible. I still think it’s possible.

I’ve had over one and a quarter million hits in the last year with over six and a quarter million page views. When I think about those sort of numbers my head starts to hurt.

4) 1,500 Subscribers

Result: Success.

1,000 people subscribe by email, 700ish by RSS feed and 200 and some by Twitter.

This one scares me even more than the last one. There are 2,000 people out there who want to be informed of what I have to say every single day. What are you people? Stalkers?

Overall

There might be a few near misses in there, but I’m delighted the way the last year has gone. I owe a huge thanks to everyone who has commented, talk about the site, pruf red my stuff, been interviewed, offered their advice, subscribed and said nice things to and about me.

I owe an even huger thanks to my family and Jenny who’ve been massively supportive since day one. Unbelievably, when announced that I’d quit my job in accounts and had decided to write about the ukulele instead none of those people tried to slap some sense into me. Which is just one reason why they’re my favourite people in the world.

Next Year’s Goals

This year’s goals are going to be very different to last year’s.

For one thing, the site is plenty big enough now. If it never gets any bigger than it is now, that’s fine with me.

For another, those goals were boring. They were very SMART. I think the SMART system is a great set of training wheels for people who, like me, have had all sense of ambition beaten out of them by education and work.

Everyone in the world who wants to play a musical instrument does play a musical instrument.

That goal isn’t specific, measurable, attainable, realistic or timely. I don’t have the first clue how to go about making it so. I’m not entirely sure what it even means. It’s vomit worthy in its ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ sentimentality. In short, it’s the stupidest goal ever set. But there you have it.

Almost all the TED Talks get me thinking. But this one by Larry Lessig particularly got my attention. He talks about Sousa’s prediction that ‘talking machines’ would stop people making their own music and become consumers of music. He was absolutely right about that (but less right about man de-evolving vocal cords). Lessig points out that the internet is reviving the amateur culture; people are making music (and videos, art, poetry, software, books and even businesses – if an amateur business isn’t a contradiction in terms) off their own backs. He goes on to talk about mash-ups and copyright law. But it’s equally obvious in the number of people recording ukulele videos and putting them up on YouTube, recording music and releasing it on the net or getting together to form uke groups. I think it would be a shame for people to miss out on it because making something is more fun and more rewarding than using something.

From the start, one of my – unstated for being too ridiculous – aims for the blog was to make sure everyone who started playing the ukulele didn’t stop. And this goal is widening it out a bit. I think one of the main reasons people want to make music but don’t is they don’t think they have any musical ability (often because they’ve been told that – often, unforgivably, by teachers). Which makes the ukulele the perfect place to start. No matter what the arguments over how easy it is to play, no-one is intimidated by the ukulele.

It’s also one of the reasons I was keen to do something for Ukuleles for Peace. There are plenty of other good reasons to support it as well. So if you haven’t bought that ebook yet – do it.

If you have any idea how to set about achieving it, do let me know. (Just don’t mention the word ‘school’.)

Coming Up (Or Not)

I get a lot of suggestions – many of them ending with the words, “off and die.” But some of them are very good. I even have my own ideas some times. Here are a selection of things that you can expect to see, some you might see, and some you won’t.

Will Happen

– Various people have told me I should be doing Uke Hunt t-shirts and they were absolutely right. But I didn’t want to do a boring shirt with just a logo on. So I searched and eventually found the right person to design them. The first set of shirts are being designed by Art Grootfontein. And here’s a glimpse at the first one and here’s the second.

– How to Play Ukulele Strums. By far the most requested ebook. It has been in the works for a long time. I’m finding it really difficult to write. Perhaps because so much of the stuff out there about strums misses the point entirely or is just plain rubbish. But it is slowly coming together and I think it will be really useful once it’s finished.

Might Happen

Feel free to voice your opinions on whether you want these.

– Captain Obvious Week. I get buckets of requests for songs like I’m Yours that have been done so many times on the ukulele they make me want to stab my ears with an icepick. Usually I just reply that I’m Yours would never work on the ukulele. But that just ends up in me being called a douche by the semi-literate. So I’m tempted to get this sort of thing out the way. Except I think my so-hip-it-hurts regular readers will – quite rightly – leave never to return.

– Some sort of membership area of the site that would be closed off to passers-by.

– Uke Hunt net-label. I like the idea and, with the record industry in such rude health, how could it fail? But orgainising things that involve more people than just me isn’t my strong suit. (This one probably belongs in the ‘Will Never Happen’ section).

– Regular Twittering. During my break recently my blog muscles started to atrophy. So I decided to start Twittering properly. It doesn’t appeal to me anywhere near as much as blogging. There’s not much long term benefit to it. After a few hours no one is ever going to see your tweet ever again. But it does have its uses.

Will Never Happen

– Uke Hunt festival. Suggested by James Hill and seconded by Jimmy.

I don’t have my shit together anywhere near enough to pull something like this off. My organisational skills are stretched to the full making sure I wear enough clothes to keep myself out of jail when I venture outside.

– Bosko and Honey style world trip of ukulele players. Suggested by Ukulelezo.

It worked for Bosko and Honey because they’re friendly, affable, talented and generally adorable. I, on the other hand, am a surly, anti-social douche. But the idea does appeal to me in theory. And if I could come up with a way to make it more interesting than just a poor-man’s Ukulele Safari it might move itself into the maybe category.

55 Comments

Happy Birthday! 2 years, quite an achievement. Your site was an inspiration to me when I first picked up the ukulele18 months ago and still is today, you’re doing a marvellous job.

Those t-shirts are, quite frankly, the dog’s large, hairy and bouncing testicles. I will be first in the queue when they’re on sale, particularly like the one with owls on it, owls are just brilliant. Almost as brilliant as ukuleles, but with beaks. Although if an owl sat on my ukulele and dropped an owl pellet into the sound hole I don’t think I’d be impressed. On reflection owls are best kept to the safe confines of a ukulele related t-shirt where they can’t defecate in a dobro or crap in a concert.

lovely to read this post…..much cool info and a lot to laugh about (the link to the volley of ‘douchery’ was golden :)

-loved the t-shirts

-so cool to see what’s been done in 2 years….uke on!!!

-an idea regarding ‘captain obvious week': one of the cool things about the site is it’s a treasure trove of info, but it still has your spin on it…it’s yours….if we don’t like something or something doesn’t speak to us we wait till the next submission/post/whatever.

if folks want to pressure you to do tabs/or tutorials on stuff that is a grind for you (cuz you think it sucks or whatever), there’s always private e-mail correspondence and pay pal..(at a rate that makes it worth your while)….eh?

-you may label yourself as a surly anti social douche, but you’re already flinging (freely mind you) cool resources (great vids, links, free uke info) our way…..which is a charitable and kind thing to do…..if someone wants to learn ‘im yours’ they can surf google and you tube more or pay you for a lesson :)

Great post, and well-deserved success, Al !
Your site has been an endless source of information for a beginner like myself, and your e-books have taught me what (little) I know in a fun way (love your sense of humour).
Congratulations on being true to yourself and on doing what you are meant for ! Carry on !

The T-shirts are great, especially the one with owls. After J-Hob’s thorough analysis, there’s not so much to add ;-)
Will be second in the queue then.

You have literally inspired thousands of us to pick up that stupid little instrument that we got for xmas, and have supplied us with good clear advice, and some excellent choices in tabs/chords.

You have always had the time and good grace to respond to and encourage people who visit and comment on the site, and have helped lots of us though private email correspondance.

I also think that (along with that bloke who did that beatles cover) you are one of the reasons why the ukulele has moved from niché to into the mainstream.

On a personal level, I know that without coming here, i would never have persevered with my uke, or been sufficiently inspired to set up my own Ukulele Club. (We’ve now had 6 meetings with 30 people coming to the last one)

Also, you have always been generous with your links, and have given me the majority of the referals to my blog over the past year (apart from the google hits to my very ill-advised post entitled ‘shit in my mouth’!)

All the best Al, keep up the good work
Andy

In terms of future goals, wasnt there once talk of a proper published book? (the type available in ‘all good bookshops’)

John: Currently having a few problems with the t-shirts in Europe. Spreadshirt US was a breeze but Spreadshirt Europe is throwing up issues. If anyone knows a Europe based site that does the same thing, let me know.

Seeso: Ta (that’s thanks in Yorkshire).

snowcooley. Thanks, I’ll try my best.

Shelley: Perhaps I could do a pantless safari.

todd: I think I’m Yours might be too big to ignore. It’s part of the ukulele culture and it’d be a large omission not to mention it.

i like so many of these ideas, it makes me happy to see such things written down on internetz,
would anybody judge me harshly for buying one of each tshirt?
first of all i like the idea of painfully obvious week, i think it would be good to get the obvious stuff out of the way and every so often we all get requests from pretty girls for obvious songs and some correct chords would be useful. and eitherway it would give us regular readers a blog break :P
i think if you were going to do a poor mans ukulele safari you should just go for the cheapest production you can and be as surly as possible, if you’re surly enough it might be funny, hehe.
happy birthday

mictoboy: The problem is I don’t think Boogaloo and Ukulele Songs do a good enough job of the tab. In fact Songs seems to have stolen Boogaloo’s version (I think Songs is a pretty crummy site all round).

cbf: Oh, never do favours for pretty girls. No good can come of it.

The Surly Safari – “Shut up and play the feckin’ song.” Hmm, could work.

Anne: They do. But 1 human year = 1 blog month. So I had the terrible twos in July 2007. I’m now 24.

Happy Birthday, Uke Hunt. What a great resource. I think that I may be remiss as a member of society since I check a ukulele blog before I check the news… nah, I’m much happier checking this blog than reading about all the terrible things in the world.

I dunno about the T-shirt, people won’t really get it, and then they’ll ask me, and I’ll mutter something about pretty birds (or a bear). I think it might be cool to go on the opposite side, with something like “I once killed a man… WHILE SINGING “SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW” or “I once killed a man… WHILE WEARING A LEI” or… something more clever than that.

Anyways, happy birthdays, I’d have basically no tabs without this place.

This site is fully deserving of all those goals you’ve achieved. I bet most people here, like me, checked the site a couple of times a day even when you took that break a couple of weeks ago just to make sure we didn’t miss anything!

I’ve been obsessively visiting your site for over a year-and-a-half now and start every morning with a coffee and UkeHunt! I currently live in ukulele-crazy Vancouver, but when I first discovered the ukulele I lived in Montreal which has no ukulele culture and you were my main link to this odd little world for much of my 1st year on the instrument.

You’ve introduced me to ukulele goodness all sorts, from Beirut to Bosco and Honey, you’ve always been quick and encouraging with your replies to my emails, and your posts never fail to entertain!

I always direct newcomers to the ukulele to your awesome site.

With no small inspiration from you, a group of us have recently formed an all-ukulele rock band and my “way outside” goal for this year is to be featured on Monday Exposure. But, you know, baby steps… first we have to finish learning a few songs.

More videos would be great. I think I’ll finally subscribe to inspire you. Should be helpful with the strums e-book, it’s probably easier to learn something like a triplet by watching rather than reading.

You’ve done a great job making the ukulele the coolest instrument around, keep up the good work and I’m sure we’ll all be reading your tenth anniversary post before we know it.

As always, great content. Enjoyed the TED reference and the Ukulele Hunt animal tees. It is hard to believe that UH is only two years old. Seems you’ve always been here. You know you always open up new internet locations to search out and enjoy. Thanks so much.

Thank you for the wonderful e-books.
Thank you for challenging my 11 year old son.
Thank you for keeping a fatally talentless dad practicing.
Thank you for one of the best blogs on the web, and happy anniversary.

Happy Birfday!
You’re pretty sweet, surly or no.
Love that both shirt samples are blue.
Maybe not a tour or festival, but a contest could totally work. Sponsored by Ohana, different panel of judges every year. Or Ukulele Idol, where people audition, etc, and it’s all done via YouTube. Choose a panel and delegate most the responsibility but keep the page views.

Jodi: I think there are plenty of video contests around at the moment. And I’m not too keen on the music-as-a-competition thing. But I love the idea of other people doing the work and me getting the credit.

cbf: I couldn’t be rude about people’s music (to their faces).

Josh Blair: Thanks!

Joe: I hope to see new posts from you soon!

Rob: Thanks very much.

Josh: Being at the other end of the scale, you get no sympathy from me ;)

Is it so wrong for me to want you to come pay me a visit? I’ll need to be the first stop on the S.U.R.L.Y. (Special Ukulele Roadtrip Live with You) Tour. Feel free to celebrate by sending me a Uke Hooters t-shirt.

I am just obsessed with ukulele contests, tho I’ve never entered a single one. I just want to judge one. I was thinking of doing my own and just giving away one of the many ukes hanging on my wall.
Don’t let my Nicest Person On The Internet persona fool you: I’m actually a bitch.